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@ U S T . H K
PHASE I:
DEFINITION
Define the source
of risk, location and
potential initiation
(e.g. earthquake
or rainfall). Then,
investigate individual
hazard lifecycles and
the space scale
that each hazard
has evolved over
its lifecycle.
HKUST Five-phase Multi-hazard Risk Analysis
PHASE II:
MULTI-HAZARD
ASSESSMENT
Identify lead hazards
(e.g. landslides or
rock avalanches) and
derived hazards
(e.g. debris flows or
river sedimentation)
and investigate
cascading effects and
temporal and spatial
evolution of hazards.
PHASE III:
INTERACTIONS
AMONG ELEMENTS
AT RISK
Identify elements that
may be at risk and
consider methods
to resolve potential
problems caused.
For instance, consider
rerouting traffic
following a landslide
that causes highway or
road blockage.
PHASE IV:
MULTI-
VULNERABILITY
ASSESSMENT
Analyze interactions
between vulnerabilities
(e.g. human
or structural
vulnerabilities)
and hazards.
PHASE V:
MULTI-RISK
ASSESSMENT
Draw up assessment
that calculates all
possible risks from
multiple hazards in a
defined area, including
overlapping and non-
overlapping risks, risks
from amplification
and number of zones
affected by root
hazards, as well as
overlapping hazards
and derived hazards.
The HKUST Geotechnical
Centrifuge Facility (GCF),
set-up in 2001, was the first
in the world to be equipped
with a bi-axial shaking table
for geotechnical earthquake
engineering and a state-of-
the-art four-axis robotic
manipulator. The equipment
gave HKUST researchers a
competitive edge in carrying out
advanced physical modeling of
numerous engineering-related
problems. The centrifuge has
played a key role in attracting
major research projects funded
by large-scale grants such
as Theme-based Research
Scheme and Collaborative
Research Fund, and advancing
world-class geotechnical
engineering research within
the University and beyond. Prof
Charles Ng was the Director
since its official opening; under
his 14-year leadership, the
GCF remains a state-of-the-art
leading centrifuge facility in
the world. Prof Limin Zhang is
the current Director.
Prof Charles Ng's research group comprises students
from 16 different nationalities.
Prof Limin Zhang uses the four-axis robotic
manipulator installed on the centrifuge, capable of
creating an elevated gravity field 150 times that of
Earth's gravity for static model tests.
Centrifuge Generates
Ground-shaking Impact
government’s Geotechnical Engineering
Office and Hong Kong Observatory.
In addition, Prof Zhang is working
on expanding such stress-testing to
cover Hong Kong’s entire 1,100 square
kilometers by building a high-resolution
digital platform to simulate further
low-probability, high-consequence risk
scenarios, including severe flooding,
landslides, debris flows and other intense
hazards. He later hopes to extend this
to the wider Guangdong - Hong Kong -
Macao bay area, with its twin dangers of
river flooding and storm surges.
Boost for Decision-makers
“As societies develop, public tolerance
of damage decreases and is replaced
by a general expectation of safety,”
Prof Zhang said. His research is thus
in line with the greater need for social
and political leaders to be accountable,
should disaster strike, and such leaders’
increasing reliance on quantitative
risk-based assessment to explain the
decisions made. In other words, a way
to help everyone expect the unexpected
through science.
Prof Zhang has published more than
200 international journal papers and is
co-author of
Dam Failure Mechanisms
and Risk Assessment
(Wiley 2016).
He is also Editor-in-Chief of
Georisk:
Assessment and Management of Risk
for Engineered Systems and Geohazards
(Taylor & Francis).
